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V. 



THE ADVENTURES OF A DOLL 





It Was Quite Two Minutes Before Betty Could Get Over 

Her Fright 




THE 


ADVENTURES OF A DOLL 


BY 

NORA ARCHIBALD SMITH 

M 



Illustrations in color by Dan Sayre Groesbeck 


NEW YORK 

THE McCLURE COMPANY 
MCMVII 


Copyright^ 1907 ^ by The McClure Company 


Published, October, 1907 


LIBRARY of C0N«KE3S 
Two Copies Received 

DEC 24 1 90r 

' Copyrt^nt Entry 
CLASS ^ XXc. NO- 

/^S0S3 

COPY B. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Two Heroines and a Hero 3 

II. The First Adventure 7 

III. The Second Adventure 13 

IV. The Third Adventure 19 

V. The Fourth Adventure 25 

VI. The Fifth Adventure 37 

VII. The Sixth Adventure 48 

VIII. The Seventh Adventure 55 



ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING 

PAGE 

It Was Quite Two Minutes Before Betty Could Get 
Over Her Fright Frontispiece ^ 

The Pipes Were Playing — “The Campbells Are 

Coming” 10 

Betty and the Small Fat Boy Began to Grow Hungry 30 / 

There Were so Many Little Girls — They Looked 

Like a Great Swarm of Butterflies .... 58 / 


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THE ADVENTURES OF A DOLL 








CHAPTER ONE 


TWO HEROINES AND A HERO 

^ I ^ HERE are three persons in this story, and one of 
^ them is just as nice as the other two, and the other 
two are just as nice as the one. There is Betty, she is 
the oldest. There is MuiF, the dog, he’s the next and 
such a dear doggie! There is Bettykin, the doll, and she 
is the youngest of all. 

“ Ladies first,” so I’ll tell you about Betty. She is four 
years old, and she will be five on her next birthday, if 
the weather keeps fine. She is a wide little girl, almost 
as wide as she is long, but not quite, of course. She has 
a great many curls, and everyone of them is as yellow 
as molasses candy and as curly as a shaving. She wears 
a blue pinafore with short sleeves, or she did when I 
last saw her; perhaps she has changed it now, and she 
has very short stockings that only just peep above her 
stout shoes. Her legs and her arms are as pink as straw- 
berry ice-cream, and her plump cheeks are as red as the 
strawberries without the cream. She has blue eyes; oh, 
so blue, so blue! like the sky on warm summer days; 

3 


The Adventures of a Doll 

and altogether there’s no nicer little girl in all the West 
Highlands of Scotland. 

That’s Betty, and now for the dog, odd little fellow! 
If your mother has a long-haired muif of gray, silky 
fur, and you can fancy how it would look frisking up 
and down the street and barking, then you know ex- 
actly how Betty’s dog looked. 

Oh, no, his legs didn’t show, for his hair swept the 
ground. Dear me, no, you couldn’t see his ears, for they 
were long and trailing and mingled with his fur. No, 
not even his eyes (though I happen to know that they 
were black), for they were covered with gray, silky 
fringes, and not his tail, either, for it was too short. 
When you saw him in the street you never could tell 
whether he was going up to the school or down to the 
kirk, for he was so alike at both ends, funny little Mutf 1 

And Bettykin? Oh, she was the doll, and a nice, soft, 
huggable, kissable doll that Betty’s mother made all 
her own self. She wasn’t at all like any doll you ever 
saw, though nobody would mind that, for a new fash- 
ion in dolls is a good thing now and then. In shape 
Bettykin was like a very big peanut, two feet long, 
or like a very small guitar without the neck. One side 
of her was red flannel, the other black, so that she 
4 


Two Heroines and a Hero 
always had two dresses on at the same time, one for 
week-days and one for Sunday. She had a nice snub 
nose and a round, white silk eye on the red side of her 
face and another on the black. No, of course she couldn’t 
look out of both of them at the same time, but neither 
can a hen, and who complains of that? She was stuffed 
with cotton, so that you could squeeze, squeeze, squeeze 
her as hard as you liked when you loved her very much, 
and never hurt her at all, and her waist was so nice and 
soft and limp that you could double her right up in 
the middle and put her in a shopping-bag when you 
wanted to travel. No, she had never traveled yet and 
neither had Betty, but she had a very pretty brown and 
white crocheted cap on her head, so that she was all 
ready for a journey at any time. Did she have to keep 
it on in the house? Yes, she did, but there’s a great 
deal of wet, chilly weather in the Highlands, and it’s 
not a bad plan to keep your head warm. She had no 
legs, I am obliged to say, and as for feet, how could 
she use them, when Betty always carried her? And her 
hands and arms? “ ’Deed she hadn’t any,” but she did 
have Betty always at her beck and call, and if you had 
someone to dress you and feed you and put you to bed 
and take you up and sing to you and tell you stories, 
5 


The Adventures of a Doll 

you would not fret, I’m sure, because you lacked an arm 
or two. She slept with Betty every night, and she was 
so soft and warm and cuddled up so close, and, you 
see, no matter how out of temper she might be, she 
could neither kick nor scratch, and that’s no bad thing 
in a bedfellow, is it? 

Can you see them all three — Betty, Muff and Betty- 
kin? Shut your eyes tight and cover them with your 
hand and just try. 

You can? Well, then, that’s all for to-day, but there’s 
another part coming soon. You can’t? Then you have 
not paid attention to the story, and you will have to 
hear it all over again to be ready for the next chapter. 


6 


CHAPTER TWO 


THE FIRST ADVENTURE 

I T was a little village in the Highlands of Scotland 
where Betty and Muff and Bettykin lived, and one 
pleasant spring day they were all very happy together 
in the garden behind the house. 

Muff was in the corner by the onion bed, scratching 
for a bone with his forepaws and smelling for it with 
his nose; or else he was scratching with his hind paws 
and smelling with his tail — nobody could tell which. 
Betty was pounding her wet handkerchief with a heavy 
stick on the smooth stones of the wall, making believe 
she was a washerwoman doing a large washing in the 
real Highland way, and her doll was thrown over her 
arm like a workbag. Of course Bettykin’s head hung 
down to the very hem of her dress, and she couldn’t 
see much of the landscape, but the position is one that 
you like very much when you get used to it, I under- 
stand. The parrot, you know, is always hanging to 
his perch with his head where his tail ought to be, and 
the woodpecker generally takes his meals when he’s 
7 


The Adventures of a Doll 

upside down. He says it is better fun that way, and 
you might try it and see; perhaps it is. Then there’s 
the monkey; why should he keep his heels higher than 
his head, imless he liked it? And how about the fly; 
doesn’t he seem quite as happy walking on the ceiling 
as on the floor? So you needn’t pity Bettykin, for I’m 
quite sure she was comfortable, and at least her nice 
little snub nose was near enough to the ground to smell 
all the spring flowers growing. 

Well, suddenly, while they were all three very busy 
— one washing, one digging, one hanging — they heard 
the distant beat of a drum and the skirl of the bag- 
pipes. Down went the clothes-pounder ; down went — 
no, the bone didn’t go down, because Mufi* hadn’t found 
it; away flew Betty to the upstairs window looking on 
the loch, Bettykin bobbing on her arm, and away gal- 
loped Muff, head first, or tail first, and tumbled into 
the street like a door-mat thrown out to be shaken. 

Everybody all along the way flew to everybody’s 
door, all the white-capped old ladies put their heads out 
of their windows, all the mothers stood by their door- 
stones and jogged their babies up and down, all the 
fishermen left their boats by the loch-side and hurried 
to the causeway. 


8 


The First Adventure 

Te-tum-ty — ^te-tum-ty — te-tum-te-tum-tum ! So sang 
the pipes, and the drums beat a gay accompaniment. 
The small fat boy next door put his arms akimbo and 
kicked out his feet, dancing a reel on the sidewalk while 
his pink apron waved in the breeze. 

Te-tum-ty — te-tum-ty-te-tum-te-tum-tum! 

The music came nearer; the pipes were playing The 
Campbells are coming,” and every person whose name 
was Campbell on the street, and there was one at every 
other door and every other window — Betty was a 
Campbell, of course, and so was Muff and so was 
Bettykin — well, every Campbell all along the way held 
up his head and sang the tune with his heart and his 
voice, and kept time to it with his feet and his hands 
and his head and his whole body. 

Little Betty leaned out of the window so far, so far, 
that her mother would have had a “ conniption fit ” if she 
had seen her. Do they have conniption fits in Scotland? 
Oh, yes indeed; mothers have them everywhere, but 
this particular mother wasn’t thinking of her child just 
then ; she was out on the sidewalk listening to the pipers, 
and who could blame her? Not you, I’m sure. 

Betty leaned out farther still; she was holding poor 
Bettykin by the head so that she dangled in the air like 
9 


The Adventures of a Doll 

an apple from the bough. Now the first three pipers 
had come as far as the small fat boy next door. There 
were six of them all together; their Highland bonnets 
were set so far on the sides of their heads that they 
never could have stayed there if they hadn’t stuck them 
on with flour paste; their kilts of Campbell tartan and 
their sporrans of black and white goat’s hair swayed 
to and fro as they stepped proudly along. Tartan rib- 
bons fluttered from their stockings, and long streamers 
of the Campbell colors from their pipes. The drummers 
were in kilts and their drums were gayly decked, and 
close behind them, either galloping backwards, or can- 
tering forwards as fast as he could, came Muff. 

If Betty could have leaned out any farther as the 
pipers passed, she certainly did it, and if you had seen 
the doll then, you would know the end of this chapter 
without hearing another word. For once in her life 
Betty remembered her no more than you remember 
the hairs on yoiu* head; her hand opened with as little 
thought as your mouth opens when you are sleepy, and 
down to the stony street, turning over and over, her 
white silk eyes round with fright, whirled poor Betty- 
kin! 

The pipers and the drummers did not notice the sad 
10 



“ The Campbells Ai'e Coinhig^'' 


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The First Adventure 

event, nor stop to be sorry, for they were blowing and 
beating with all their might, Te-tum-ty — ^te-tum-ty — 
te-tum-te-tum-tum! as they marched along their way. 

Now the accident and the doll’s bruises and Betty’s ‘ 
fears were not all of this adventure, for where do you 
suppose poor Bettykin fell? Not on the sidewalk, not 
in the street, but, dear me! of all places in the world, 
on top of the minister’s tall, black, glossy hat! He was 
passing by just at the very moment, when swoop! whirl! 
down flew Bettykin like a bird from the skies, and 
thump, bump, came her weight on his beaver! 

Betty’s mother looked up with a start, frowned, 
turned very red, shook her finger at the little girl, and 
said, “You naughty, naughty child!” 

Betty’s grandmother hurried to the minister and 
courtesied and courtesied very low, and said, “ Oh, sir! 
Oh, I beg your pardon, sir; I do indeed! ” 

Even Muff stopped in his race and gave a short bark 
of surprise. 

Betty opened her mouth as wide as it could go and 
began to cry so that they could have heard her down 
at the Town Cross, and the tears slid down her cheeks 
like raindrops down a window-pane. 

And what did the minister do? Why the kind, good 
11 


The Adventures of a Doll 

minister just smiled a kind, good smile and picked 
Bettykin up from the sidewalk. “ Never mind, little 
lassie,” he said, looking up at the window, “ baby’s not 
hurt,” and he put her very carefully in grandmother’s 
arms and walked away, smiling still. 

This is the end of Bettykin’s first adventure, and I 
think it turned out very well, after all, don’t you? 


12 


CHAPTER THREE 


THE SECOND ADVENTURE 

T^ETTY, Muff and Bettykin lived on the borders 
of a great, blue, Highland loch where, in sum- 
mer, beautiful yachts and crowded pleasure steamers 
went sailing up and down. 

All the long, rainy winter the steamers stayed at 
home in the great town far to the south, and the swans 
and the gulls and the fishing-boats had the loch all to 
themselves. In May, when the weather began to grow 
warm and the primroses opened their yellow eyes, then 
the steamers left their winter houses and sailed to and 
fro again, and of course the first day they appeared 
was always a very grand day indeed. 

It was noon on one of these great occasions, and 
Betty’s father was having a holiday, so he thought he 
would go down to the quay and see the “ Hieland 
Lassie ” come in. He asked Betty if she didn’t want to 
go, and she said she did; so she put on her little shawl 
and tucked Bettykin under her arm. Muff stood in the 
13 


The Adventures of a Doll 

passage, either looking out on the loch in front, or into 
the back garden, I don’t pretend to say which, and 
neither could you if you had been there. 

Nobody had asked him if he wanted to go, but he 
went all the same, and, as he galloped along, his silky 
fringes tossing in the air, all the cats behind him 
thought he was coming their way and scurried down 
passages and climbed stone walls. Of course the cats 
in front thought just the same, and so he had a very 
merry trip indeed, and so did Betty and her father. 
Betty held tight to her father’s hand as they walked 
down the quay, and I really think it would have been 
better if he had walked on the outside himself, for the 
water looked very deep indeed to four-year-old eyes. 
Still he was a kind father and it must have been quite 
safe for Betty, or he would never have taken her, I am 
sure. 

There were a great many people on the quay — men 
and women and children, — and a great many boxes and 
barrels and packages were piled up there. Everybody 
was talking at once, and as the “ Hieland Lassie ” came 
nearer, churning and splashing along, everybody talked 
louder still. 

When she reached the quay and then stopped, set- 
14 


The Second Adventure 

tling her feathers as a gull does when he lights on the 
water, there was a rush of people to the gang-plank, 
and Betty felt so small and so crushed in the forest of 
legs that she pulled her father’s coat and whimpered, 
“ Oh, take me up, daddy, please!” Her father looked 
down, caught her up in his strong arms and swung her 
to his shoulder; but why, oh, why was she on the outer 
edge of the quay! and why, oh, why was she holding 
Bettykin on her left arm! The swing was so wide and 
so sudden that the poor child had no time to think, or 
to hold the doll more tightly, and, well — of course you 
see what happened, and was it not dreadful? It’s bad 
enough to drop your doll out of window, but at least 
she falls on the ground then and you have the pieces 
to console you ; but to drop her into a loch deep enough 
to float a steamer — well, I really can’t think of a 
greater misfortune. No wonder Betty screamed; no 
wonder her father cried, ‘‘ What’s the matter with the 
child? ”; no wonder Muff barked till his hair shook to 
the very ends. 

It was quite two minutes before Betty could get over 
her fright enough to teU her father what had happened, 
and in the meantime where was Bettykin? Why, that 
brave, splendid doll was floating on her black side on 
15 


The Adventures of a Doll 

the water; not swimming, but floating, and where she 
learned to do it I’m sure I cannot tell! 

The “ Hieland Lassie ” was backing away from the 
quay now, and the waves she made rocked poor 
Bettykin up and down, up and down, till it made 
you dizzy to look at her. Muff ran to and fro bark- 
ing on the very edge of the quay, and if only it hadn’t 
been quite so far down and the water so deep, he 
would have leaped in, tail first or head first, and rescued 
her. 

But Betty’s father knew what had happened by 
this time, and he was a wise as weU as a kind father. 
‘‘There, there, don’t cry, Betty!” he said, putting 
her down. “We’ll get her out with a hook and 
line.” 

Betty stopped crying then and stood breathless, with 
her hand on Muff’s — ^well, I don’t know which, head 
or tail, and it’s no use to ask me — while her father bor- 
rowed a line from the nearest boy, fastened a long pole to 
it and began angling for the very big red fish tossing up 
and down below. The water grew quieter now that the 
steamer was far away, and in a moment the hook caught 
in the soft flannel of Bettykin’s dress. Betty’s father 
swung her up like a feather, but alas! half way up to 
16 


The Second Adventure 

the landing the sharp hook tore the pretty red cloth, 
and splash into the water a second time went poor 
dollie. 

“Oh-h-h-h!” cried Betty, her eyes beginning to 
stream with tears again, but she couldn’t stop to cry 
long, for she had to watch her father. Once more the 
hook caught, and this time Bettykin was landed, and 
in a minute, all wet and dripping, she was clasped in her 
little mother’s arms. 

Betty held her tight under her shawl all the way 
home for fear the poor thing would get cold, and 
when she began to tell her mother all about the acci- 
dent, down the tears came dropping again to think how 
careless she had been of her dear Bettykin. Mother was 
very sorry, of course, and she looked at dollie and said 
that her dress was badly torn indeed, but she could mend 
it, she thought. There was a high wind blowing and a 
bright sun shining by that time, and it was decided 
that it would be a very good plan to hang Bettykin out 
to dry, and then she would be just as good as new by 
the time Betty had had her nap. So they took Bettykin 
by her nice, little, limp waist and hung her over the 
clothesline in the wind and the sun, and Betty went to 
sleep in her bed and Muff went to sleep in the garden, 
17 


The Adventures of a Doll 

his nose wrapped up in his tail, or his tail wrapped up 
in his nose, one of the two. 

And when Betty woke, was Bettykin really as good 
as new? Yes, indeed she was, and her dress was all 
mended! 


18 


CHAPTER FOUR 


THE THIRD ADVENTURE 

I T was nearly noon on a warm summer’s day, and 
Betty and Muff and the small fat boy next door, 
were all down by the loch playing in the water. Wasn’t 
Bettykin there? Well, you will see, as it turned out, that 
I am not quite sure, and I am sorry to say, Betty isn’t 
quite sure either, and as for Muff, whether he is quite 
sure or not, is something that no one ever exactly liked 
to say. 

At all events, three of the party were there, there’s 
no doubt about that, and they were having a very good 
time indeed. The sun was shine, shine, shining, the 
waves were lap, lap, lapping, the breeze was blow, blow, 
blowing, and the small fat boy next door had a nice little 
boat that he was trying to sail. 

It was as much as seven or nine inches long, — ^yes, 
full as long as that, and it had a sail, and a name 
printed on it in inky letters, and a long string so that 
you could pull it, if the wind didn’t blow. The gulls were 

19 


The Adventures of a Doll 

walking about on the shore, and so were the pigeons, 
and so were the wild ducks, and the small fat boy next 
door was very polite and let Betty sail the boat part of 
the time. Muff was, — ^well, it has never been known just 
what he was doing, so I won’t try to tell you, but I 
know it must have been something nice, and I’m sure 
he liked it. In the middle of all these pleasant things 
some one cried ‘‘Betty! B-e-t-t-y!” and the little girl 
looked up, and there was her mother standing in the 
doorway calling her to dinner. Muff had come back by 
this time, or else he had not been away, one or the other, 
I don’t pretend to know which, and he never needed to 
be asked but once to come to his meals, so he scrambled 
up the rocks as fast as he could, and Betty ran after 
him. Her father lifted her into her chair and Muff lay 
down in a corner of the room. Yes, indeed, he was a 
very well-bred dog and never begged for food at the 
table, and just for this once, you could really tell which 
was his head and which his tail, for you could see his 
bright black eyes watching from his comer. 

Betty had her broth, and Muff had his bone, and then 
it was sleepy time. 

“ Where’s my Bettykin? ” asked Betty, her foot on 
the lowest step of the stairs. 

20 


The Third Adventure 

“ I don’t know,” said her mother. ‘‘ I suppose she is 
here somewhere. You must look for her.” 

Betty did look everywhere she could think of, and 
she could not find her, and then her mother began to 
search, and then her grandmother. No, Muff didn’t 
search, for he was too sleepy, or at least I suppose that 
was the reason. They searched low and they searched 
high, imder the tables, behind the doors, under the beds, 
and in the wardrobes. They looked in the garden and 
in the coal-house and everywhere Betty had ever taken 
Bettykin and a great many places where she had never 
taken her at all. They asked the small fat boy next 
door, but he didn’t know. “ Why don’t you look down 
by the water? ” said his mother and they went there, 
and though the tide was out and you could see very 
plainly, there was nothing like a doll on all the shore. 

Betty was so sad and sorry by this time and so tired 
with thinking where she could have left that precious 
Bettykin that she really couldn’t take her nap by her- 
self and her grandmother had to comfort her and rock 
her in her arms a long time. And while she was asleep 
her mother had an idea. She remembered that early 
that morning the beautiful young lady who lived at 
the Castle had passed by in her pony-cart and that she 
21 


The Adventures of a Doll 

had taken Betty and Bettykin for a drive up by the 
manse, and down the glen. Perhaps the doll had been 
left in the cart, for Betty didn’t go driving often, and 
was much excited with the beautiful pony and the more 
beautiful young lady. 

So her mother threw her shawl over her head and ran 
to the Castle coach-house, but alas! and dear me! there 
was no doll in the cart, no, not a sign of a doll. 

By this time Betty woke up and when she found 
there was still no Bettykin she cried, for she couldn’t 
help it, and Muff came up and wagged his head, or 
else his tail, and seemed very sorry for her. Oh yes 
indeed, he seemed so, but when you can’t see a person’s 
face you can’t tell just how they do feel, you know. 

Then father came home and heard the sad story and 
he wasn’t a bit anxious and he said in his big voice that 
the doll would turn up all right. And he said too, and 
this was rather unkind, wasn’t it, that nobody would 
take Bettykin away if they saw her by daylight. But 
he said it with a laugh, and he helped to look for her 
too, before supper and after supper. He looked for her 
in the clock-case and in grandmother’s cap and in his 
own pockets and in his boots and in such funny places 
that he made Betty laugh and forget her troubles. 

22 


The Third Adventure 

But by and by it was bed-time, though it was still 
bright outside, for where Betty lives the sun sets so late 
in the summer that you have to go to bed before he 
does, to give him a hint of his duty. 

Oh, but then there was grief and trouble when poor 
Betty went up stairs without her Bettykin! Her mother 
imdressed her and covered her up smoothly and she 
kissed her and told her to go to sleep like a good girl 
for they’d be sure to find the dollie in the morning. 

Betty tried not to cry when she was left alone, or at 
least to cry very softly, for she was sure it must be her 
fault that her Bettykin was gone. She lay there a long 
time, sobbing little sobs and catching little catches in 
her breath, and thinking of her dear soft, warm dollie, 
and how sweetly she cuddled up to her, and how quietly 
she lay all night, and how nice and early she woke in 
the morning. She was still sobbing little sobs and catch- 
ing little catches when she heard a funny sound on the 
stairs. There was the tap of soft feet and a queer 
scratching, bumping noise and a kind of growl besides. 
Betty sat up in bed. It sounded like Muff, but what 
could he be doing? Was he catching a mouse? ‘‘ Muff, 
Muff!” she called. The scratching and bumping and 
growling sounded louder; it was outside her door, and 
23 


The Adventures of a Doll 

in a moment Muff trotted in dragging something after 
him. 

Yes it was Bettykin, and Muff had her by that nice 
limp little waist of hers, and when he had dropped her 
by the bed he ran round and round and round chasing 
his tail, or else his head, and barking and barking joy- 
ful barks and making such a noise that mother ran up 
stairs to see what could be the matter. And there she 
found Betty out of bed in her nightdress with Betty- 
kin in her arms and hugging her, oh yes, hugging her 
tight, tight, tight. Oh that dear good Muffie,” she 
cried, stopping to hug him too, “ he did find my dollie, 
he did.” “ Good Muff, good dog! ” said mother, stoop- 
ing to pat him. 

“ Oh yes, good dog,” said grandmother wisely in the 
doorway, “ He that hid can find,” they say. 

And do I really think Muff did hide the doll? No, 
I don’t believe — ^well, perhaps. Oh, I’d really rather 
not say! 


24 


CHAPTER FIVE 

THE FOURTH ADVENTURE 


I T wasn’t very long after that unfortunate day by 
the loch-side when Muff hid Bettykin, — or else he 
didn’t hide her, nobody ever knew which ; — but, it wasn’t 
very long any way, before the small fat boy’s father 
came to Betty’s house and said he had to go up the 
glen on an errand, and did Betty want to go too. The 
small fat boy was going and the bairns must take a 
‘‘ piece ” so he said, for they wouldn’t be back till after 
dinner. 

Betty jumped first on one pink leg, and then on the 
other, and clapped her fat hands for joy when she heard 
the invitation, and grandmother put two nice pieces of 
oat-cake in a flat basket and gave it to her to carry. 
MufiF was out at the moment, keeping a pressing en- 
gagement with another dog at the Town Cross, but 
Bettykin was at home and Betty doubled her up nicely 
and tucked her in the basket too. Oh, no, Bettykin 
didn’t mind the position at all. It is true that her feet 
25 


The Adventures of a Doll 

were rubbing her nose on her black side, but on her 
red side her white silk eye could see very well indeed, 
where the fringe of Betty’s shawl didn’t blind it. 

It was raining a httle when the party started out, but 
very, very fine rain that would hardly wet even the 
wings of a fairy, and Betty and the small fat boy were 
no fairies, not they. So they trudged along on each 
side of the big man holding his hands, and oh, it was 
such fun to be going a journey, a real journey with 
your lunch in a basket! 

Bettykin was excited too, for she’d always wanted to 
see the world, — at least the eye on her red side did, the 
eye on the black side didn’t care so much about it. 

“How I should like to travel!” thought Bettykin 
as she jogged along in the basket, getting occasional 
peeps at the road and the hedgerows — “ Dear me, how 
I should like it!” She little thought then, — ^but I be- 
lieve I’d better not say anything more about that just 
now, for it’s really the end of this particular story, and, 
of course, you ought not to tell the end when you’ve 
hardly begun the beginning. 

At the turn of the road, just as Betty, Bettykin, the 
small fat boy and his father passed the stone cottage 
with the post-box built into the wall, a gray whirlwind 
26 


The Fourth Adventure 

blew down the lane crying “Woof! Woof! Woof!” 
and when it had bumped into Betty’s legs, and un- 
wound itself, it proved to be Muff. No, I don’t know 
how he found out that the children were going to the 
glen, nor how he got to the top of the lane and came 
back before they reached the bottom, but you can do 
a good many things with four legs, you know, that 
can’t be managed on two. Anyhow MuiF was there, and 
the way that he sniffed with his nose at the flat basket 
showed that he knew the oat-cake was there, too. 

Up the lane they all went and into the Beech-tree 
walk, and it was as soft and quiet under the great 
branches as it is in church and the leaves rustled over- 
head like the organ playing. The small fat boy’s father 
took the children to the “ Marriage Tree ” and there 
he left them to play, first hanging the baskets to a 
branch where Muff couldn’t reach them, and giving 
Bettykin to her mother. The “ Marriage Tree ” was 
really two great trees that grew side by side for a little 
way and then leaned over and touched each other, and 
then bent back and came together again making a 
great circle like a wedding ring. Above the ring they 
twined close, close to each other, until, far up, the 
branches began to grow out. It was the very most beau- 
27 


The Adventures of a Doll 

tiful kind of a tree, — ^that “ Marriage Tree,’’ and I don’t 
believe there’s another in the world like it. 

Oh, everybody had a lovely time in the Beech-tree 
walk! Betty set Bettykin down very carefully on some 
soft moss, with her back against a rock, and for once 
the doll’s head was quite high in the air so that she 
could see everything that was going on. Betty didn’t 
happen to notice that the ground fell away sharply on 
one side of the rock, and that there was a deep hole at 
the bottom, but Bettykin, whose snub nose was turned 
that way, did notice it and thought about it. ‘‘ Never 
mind! ” she said to herself. “ I shall do very well if I’m 
let alone, for I was never one to tumble about and roll 
over and scramble in the earth like that rough little 
Muff.” She little thought then, — but I really must not 
tell that now, as I said before. 

As soon as his father had gone, the small fat boy 
began to try and throw his cap through the ring of the 
“ Marriage Tree ” and Betty picked a big bunch of 
flowers and grass, oh, a very big bunch of flowers and 
grass, and began to plant a garden in the soft earth. 
Now and then a rabbit would stand up on his hind legs a 
little way off and peep at Muff and then Muff would 
cry “Woof!” and fly after him. Of course, he never 
28 


The Fourth Adventure 

caught the rabbit, dear me, no! but he always thought 
he should, and he ran here and he scurried there, and 
he chased the other way, jumping over rocks, rustling 
through dead branches, and rolling down hills as fast 
as chain lightning in a thunder-storm. When he didn’t 
have rabbits to excite him he saw birds in the branches 
of the beech trees and looked up at them and cried 
“ Woof! ” in just the same way. And when they wouldn’t 
come down, and drop into his mouth, just wouldnt do 
it, no matter what he said, he would sit up on his hind 
legs, and beg them prettily with little wavings of his 
fringed paws, as he had been taught to do for a lump 
of sugar. 

It was funny to see him beg the birds and the small 
fat boy laughed and said, “ Silly Muff! ” and so did 
Betty. What did Bettykin say? Alas, by this time Bet- 
tykin wasn’t in a place where she could say anything, 
and wherever that place was — and I shan’t tell you that 
yet, it was wet and cold, yes, very wet and cold. 

Everybody, — or almost everybody, — ^had had such a 
good time in the Beech-tree walk that it seemed hours 
and hours and days and days and weeks and weeks 
since they left home. Betty and the small fat boy began 
to grow hungry and as for Muff, of course, he was 
29 


The Adventures of a Doll 

always hungry. So, as it was raining a little and the 
luncheon would get wet if they didn’t eat it, the chil- 
dren pulled their baskets off the branch and sat down 
with them under the “ Marriage Tree.” 

And — ^in — ^the small fat boy’s basket — there was, — 
oh, yes, there was indeed, I am telling the truth, — a 
large, fat, round Cake with Plums in it! 

“ Ha, ha, ha, ha! ” laughed Betty. 

“ Ho, ho, ho, ho! ” laughed the small fat boy. 

“ Woof, woof, woof, woof! ” barked Muff and licked 
his lips and wriggled his nose. 

Betty spread out her blue pinafore over her knees 
for a tablecloth, and the small fat boy spread out his 
pink one over his knees, and they each ate a Big piece 
of Cake. Muff had a piece too, and all the crumbs and 
then Betty said, “ My Bettykin must have her dinner 
now,” and ran to get her from the rock where she had 
left her. But alas! and alack! Bettykin was not there, 
no, not there at all! 

Betty first thought she had not found the right rock 
and she looked for other rocks and other rocks and 
still other rocks, but there wasn’t a doll on any of them. 
Betty called the small fat boy and he came running 
with a piece of cake in his hand, tripped over a bough, 
30 



Bettij and the Small Fat Boy Began to Gt'ow Hnyigry 





The Fourth Adventure 

dropped the cake and fell on it and before he could get 
on his feet again the cake was traveling down the little 
red lane in Muff’s mouth. Oh, no, Muff wasn’t 
naughty; he just thought that anything good on the 
ground was his to pick up. 

The small fat boy was sad at losing the cake but he 
helped Betty to look for the doll with all his might and 
main, but if the earth had opened wide and swallowed 
her up she couldn’t have been more out of sight. “ Have 
I lost my Bettykin again?” cried Betty, and the wet, 
wet tears began to gather in her blue, blue eyes. “ Poor 
Bettykin ! ” sighed the small fat boy and shook his head 
and put his finger in his mouth, — “Woof!” barked 
Muff, “Don’t blame me! I’ve been chasing squirrels 
and don’t know anything about your doll.” 

Just at that moment, trot, trot, trot, trot, sounded 
hard little hoofs in the walk and down under the beech 
trees in her pony-cart came the beautiful young lady 
at the Castle, and with her there was a tall, strong, big 
young man looking three times too big for the cart. 

“Whoa! Rah! Whoa!” called the beautiful young 
lady when she saw the children under the trees, and she 
pulled the pony up short. “ What’s the matter, Betty? ” 
“ My Bettykin! ” sobbed Betty. 

31 


The Adventures of a Doll 

“ What, lost again? ” cried the beautiful young lady, 
and she couldn’t help smiling a little. “ Hold the lines, 
Archie, please, while I see what is the matter,” and she 
handed them to the big young man and jumped out of 
the cart. “ Now, first,” she said, “ what does Muff know 
about it? ” and she leaned down to brush away the 
silky fringe from his bright black eyes. But there 
weren’t any eyes there, for she had hold of his tail-end 
and he wriggled around with a short ‘‘Woof!” and 
showed his pink tongue in surprise. That made the chil- 
dren laugh, in spite of their sadness and made the beau- 
tiful young lady laugh, and hearing so much fun going 
on, the big young man fastened the pony to a tree and 
came and laughed too. The big young man had on a 
heavy rain-coat and when he heard that Bettykin was 
lost he took the coat straight off, because it was long 
and in his way, and said that he’d find that doll if it 
took him all day. 

“Are you sure you brought Bettykin?” asked the 
beautiful young lady. 

Oh, yes, Betty was sure, and showed the basket she 
rode in. 

“ And what has the dog been doing? ” asked the big 
young man. 


32 


The Fourth Adventure 

‘‘ Chasing the rabbits,” said Betty, and “ Chasing the 
rabbits,” said the small fat boy. 

“ Where? All over the place? ” asked the big young 
man, leaning down to pat Muff, who was jumping up 
against him. “ His coat looks as if he’d been rolling on 
the ground and his paws are all mud. He’s been scratch- 
ing somewhere. Let’s have a look around.” 

So the big young man asked Betty where she had 
laid the doll, and Betty showed him and then he began 
to search everywhere about, very slowly and carefully. 
By and by he noticed, just as Bettykin had done, that 
the ground fell away sharply on one side of the rock, 
and that there was a deep dark hole at the bottom, and 
the earth all the way down to the hole was rough and 
scratched with fresh scratches. 

“ Muff’s been down here, any way,” cried the big 
young man, “ and perhaps he knocked the doll down, 
as he jumped over the rock. I’ll look,” and he began to 
lift up the boughs and turn over the leaves. 

“ Hurrah! ” he cried in a minute, ‘‘ here she is! I saw 
her red dress at the bottom of the hole,” and he held 
up poor Bettykin, all wet and cold and muddy. 

Betty ran to catch her and kissed and hugged her so 
long that the beautiful young lady said, ‘‘ There, there, 
33 


The Adventures of a Doll 

Betty, that’s enough. You’re getting all wet yourself, 
and you haven’t thanked this kind gentleman yet. Take 
the doll, Archie, and tuck her away in your big coat 
pocket, and when we get home she’ll be all warm and 
dry. Isn’t that a good plan, Betty? And now what can 
we do to Muff, so that he’ll look where he’s going after 
this, and not knock nice dolhes down hills and nearly 
drown them in puddles? ” 

“ MuflSe can’t see! ” said the small fat boy, with his 
Bnger in his mouth. 

“ No, Muff can't see very much; only just what he 
wants to,” agreed the young lady. “ I wonder how it 
would do to tie up his hair on top of his head, — that part 
that hangs over his eyes, I mean. Archie, will you fetch 
me the bit of red ribbon on my whip? ” 

Then the beautiful young lady took Muff on her lap 
and tried to tie up his hair, but he squirmed and wrig- 
gled and wriggled and squirmed till his own mother 
couldn’t have told his head from his tail. Then the big 
young man took him, set him on his knee, cried, 
“ Steady, Muff, steady! ” while he held up his big fore 
finger, and Muff sat still as a mouse and looked straight 
at the big young man while his hair was tied up on top 
of his head with the red ribbon. He shivered a great 
34 


The Fourth Adventure 

many shivers, and winked his eyes a great many times, 
and sniffed with his nose and licked his lips, but he never 
moved a paw or tried to jump off the big young man’s 
knee. 

“ There, that’s done,” cried the beautiful young 
lady, and now we’ll take you all home in the pony- 
cart for a treat. How do you like your ribbon. 
Muff? ” 

Muff said nothing just then, for he was a polite dog, 
but if you’d gone into the coal-house soon after he 
reached home you’d have found that red ribbon lying 
among the lumps of coal. I say nothing more, and do 
not wish to suggest that Muff didn’t appreciate the 
young lady’s kindness, but, of course, if you value a 
present very much you don’t generally keep it in a 
black, grimy coal-house. 

There was a shepherd going up the glen at that mo- 
ment, so the beautiful young lady sent word to the small 
fat boy’s father that she’d taken the children home, and 
away they all went in the pony-cart, trot, trot, down the 
Beech-tree walk, trot, trot, through the gates, past 
the Town Cross and around by the kirk, trot, trot up 
the long road till they came to Betty’s house. It was 
raining quite smartly then and the beautiful young lady 
35 


The Adventures of a Doll 

cried, “Help the children out quickly, Archie; it’s al- 
most time for your boat. Run, little ones. Get under 
cover as soon as you can,” and away went Rah in the 
pony cart, trot, trot, trot, trot down the street again. 


36 


CHAPTER SIX 


THE FIFTH ADVENTURE 

N OW perhaps if you have been wide awake and 
listening with both ears to the story you may 
have noticed that there was one member of the party in 
the Beech-tree walk who didn’t come home to Betty’s 
house. 

No, you know quite well it was not Betty! 

No, it wasn’t the small fat boy either, and he lived 
next door, anyway. 

No, it wasn’t Muff, for if you remember I said that 
he left his red ribbon in the coal-house soon after he 
reached home. 

No, it wasn’t the small fat boy’s father, and you 
really could not call him one of the party, for he left 
the children under the trees, you know, and went away 
on an errand. 

Why, yes, of course, it was Bettykin, and I wonder 
you didn’t miss her before. 

Did Betty miss her? 


37 


The Adventures of a Doll 

No, or at least not for a long time. 

Why didn’t she miss her? 

Oh, I’m sure I can’t tell, for she loved her doll very, 
very dearly. I suppose it must have been because she 
had had a long walk and very little dinner, and an ex- 
citing adventure and a long drive home and was so 
tired that she climbed up on the settle to rest as soon 
as she got into the house, and it so happened that the 
Sandman was making an early round that afternoon 
and he threw sand all over the poor child’s eyes, and 
made them so heavy that she couldn’t open them the 
least little wink, and she never even woke up when her 
mother undressed her and put her to bed. 

But the next morning, oh yes, the next morning, she 
was wide awake enough and calling for Bettykin, and 
looking for Bettykin too, but she had to look for her 
all alone this time, for her mother and grandmother 
were very busy getting father ready to go to the great 
town far to the south. Yes, he was going on the “ Hie- 
land Lassie,” the very steamer they went down to see 
on the day Bettykin fell into the water, and as he did 
not leave home very often, everybody was in a hurry 
and a scurry, and mother and grandmother were giving 
him long lists of things to buy. Betty’s mother told her 
38 


The Fifth Adventure 

to be a good bairn and not fret and she’d find her dollie 
for her after father had gone, so Betty never cried a 
single tear, only she kept on searching, searching, 
searching with a very sad little face indeed, and when 
her mother saw her down on her knees under the 
table searching for Bettykin, she took father in the 
corner and whispered something to him and father 
nodded his head and said yes, he certainly would 
do it. 

Do I know what he promised to do in the great town? 
Yes, I do, but Betty didn’t, and I don’t believe you’d 
ever guess unless you lived to be as old as the man in 
the moon. 

At last father went and then mother and grand- 
mother made the house as neat as a new pin and 
cooked Betty some nice porridge for her dinner and 
put her in her high chair to eat it. And when Betty 
was all ready to eat, with her spoon in her hand, her lips 
began to tremble and to tremble and to tremble, 
and her nose began to sniff, and her eyes began to 
grow wet. 

“Bless me! What’s the matter?” cried Betty’s 
mother. 

“ M-m-m-y B-b-b-bettykin! ” sniffed Betty. 

39 


The Adventures of a Doll 
'' Sure enough/’ said grandmother, nodding her head, 
“ the poor bairn’s been looking for her all the morn- 
ing.” 

“ Don’t cry! ” said mother in a nice, comforting way, 
“ we’ll find her soon enough, wherever she is. Are you 
quite certain though, that you didn’t leave her up in 
the Beech-tree walk last night? ” 

Yes, Betty was certain about that, as soon as she was 
asked. She remembered very well that the big young 
man had taken Bettykin and laid her in his rain-coat 
in the pony-cart and when they all climbed in to come 
home she was afraid at first to ask for her doll and 
afterwards, — Oh, dear, dear, oh, dear, dear, very dear 
me! she had entirely forgotten all that had happened 
after that ! 

“Never mind!” said mother, wiping away Betty’s 
tears. “ The doll will be in the pony-cart safe enough 
and I’ll go and get her this afternoon when you have 
your nap. The young gentleman wouldn’t take Betty- 
kin on a journey with him, you may be sure, and I 
heard the beautiful young lady say here at the door that 
he’d have to hurry, or he’d lose his boat. Say your grace 
now and eat your porridge and you can take Muff with 
you when you lie down. 


40 


The Fifth Adventure 

So Betty bowed her little head with all its yellow 
curls and said her grace just like this: 

“ Some hae meat that canna eat, 

And some hae nane that want it; 

But I hae meat and I can eat, 

And so the Lord be thankit.” 

Ajid then she ate the very last sup of her porridge 
and scraped the bowl. Muff had some porridge too, 
and then they went together to take their nap. 

Now Muff didn’t want a nap the least bit in the 
world, no, not the very least bit. He was as busy as he 
could be every day and all the time, and that afternoon 
he had planned to go down to the coal-house and worry 
that red ribbon all into little pieces. Still he was a kind 
dog, and he could not desert his little mistress when 
she had no Bettykin to comfort her, and he let Betty 
look for his eyes and smooth the hair back from them 
so as to know which end of him to lay on the pillow, and 
then they both went to sleep. 

Muff slept about as long as it would take you to turn 
around twice, and then he felt so wide awake that he 
couldn’t keep still another minute to save his tasseled 
ears and his fringed forepaws and his whole silky coat. 

41 


The Adventures of a Doll 

So he crept away from Betty very softly, and jumped 
down from the bed very softly, and softly went into the 
coal-house where he worried and worried and more 
worried that red ribbon till it looked like a wet feather 
off an old hen’s tail. 

In the meantime Betty’s mother had gone to the 
Castle coach-house again and asked the kind coachman, 
who was a friend of Betty’s father, if the grooms had 
found a doll in the pony-cart. 

And sorry enough the kind coachman was to say for 
the second time, when he heard how Betty was grieving, 
that there wasn’t so much as a doll’s eyelash anywhere 
about the premises, ma’m. 

So Betty’s mother went sadly away, thinking she’d 
ask the beautiful young lady about the doll the next 
time she saw her. And she went sadly home and when 
she got there she found that the very oddest, queerest, 
strangest, most wonderful, most extraordinary thing 
had happened while she had been gone that ever did 
happen to a little girl, I do believe. 

What was it? Well, it’s a long story, and I must 
begin a little way back or you won’t understand it. 

Now think a moment and see if you remember where 
the big young man put Bettykin when she was so cold 
42 


The Fifth Adventure 

and wet that the beautiful young lady said that Betty 
mustn’t hold her any longer. 

Exactly; you’re quite right; he put her in the pocket 
of his rain-coat and he laid the rain-coat under the seat 
of the pony-cart. Then he and Bab and the beautiful 
young lady took the children home, you remember, and 
told them to run in quickly out of the rain, and trot, 
trot, trot, trot, off went Bab again down to the quay 
where a boat was waiting to row the big young man 
to the village across the water. There he was to have his 
dinner and take a train for the busy town far to the 
south, so he was in a great, great hurry, and mustn’t 
keep the boat waiting another minute. 

He got into his rain-coat as quickly as he could, said 
good-bye to the beautiful young lady, jumped into the 
boat, splash went the oars over the gray water, and 
they were off in a trice. When he reached the inn on the 
other side he gave his coat to a nice smiling red-cheeked 
maid, and asked her to dry it by the kitchen fire, and 
went in quickly to his dinner. 

And while he was eating, the nice, smiling, red- 
cheeked maid knocked at the door and came into the 
room and said, ‘‘ I beg your pardon, Sir Archibald, but 
would you be wanting ” 


43 


The Adventures of a Doll 
“Would I be wanting what?” said the big young 
man, looking up from his dinner. 

“ Would you be wanting to take this to town with 
you, sir? ” said the smiling maid, smiling a little more, 
and she held out, — what do you suppose? Yes, Bettykin 
of all things in the world! 

“Ha, ha, ha, ha!” laughed the big young man. 
“ Why, it’s little Betty’s doll and I forgot to give it to 
her. What a shame! Did you find it in my pocket? ” 

“ Yes, Sir Archibald,” said the smiling maid, “ and 
I’ve dried it nicely and brushed it clean, and what shall 
I do with it, sir? ” 

“We must send it back at once,” said the big young 
man. “ Can you get a box, Mary, and do you think 
there’s any trifle at the village shop that a little girl 
might like? If there is, will you kindly buy it for me 
while I finish my dinner? ” 

Just fancy how Bettykin was feeling all this time, 
and how long the hours had seemed while she was in 
the dark pocket in the pony-cart, tossing on the waves 
in an open boat and drying by the kitchen fii'e in a 
strange land! This was seeing the world indeed, and it 
was bigger than she had ever thought and far more 
dangerous. 


44 


The Fifth Adventure 

Her only comfort was that she was dressed for trav- 
eling as a lady should be, with a red frock for every 
day and a black frock for Sunday and a nice brown 
and white crocheted cap on her head to keep it warm. 
Still she missed Betty very very much and she was so 
glad to hear that she was to be sent home that her white 
silk eyes fairly shone with pleasure. 

Now, after I’ve told you this part of the story you 
can guess what had happened while Betty’s mother was 
gone, can’t you? 

Betty had scarcely waked up, had had her face 
washed, her curls smoothed and a clean blue pinafore 
put on when there was a loud knock at the door and 
when grandmother opened it, there stood the postman! 

That was strange enough to begin with; for Betty’s 
mother and father and grandmother never had any 
letters, seeing that their friends all lived close beside 
them and, of course, Betty was too little to have any. 

“ Does a child called Betty live here? ” asked the 
postman, “ and has she a dog named Muff? ” 

“Why, how very strange!” cried grandmother. 
“ Yes, here is Betty peeping around the door and here 
is Muff, black as the soot in the chimney-back.” 

45 


The Adventures of a Doll 

‘‘ Very well, then,” said the postman, “ this box be- 
longs here,” and he handed grandmother a big box, yes, 
a very big box indeed and on the cover, it said, 

For Little Miss Betty 
Who has a Dog Named 
Muffj and who Lives in a 
Pink House by the Water. 

Grandmother took the box, though she was so 
astonished she almost dropped it and she and Betty laid 
it on the table and sat down and looked at it. I believe 
they would have been looking at it now and wondering 
who sent it, and who wrote the words on the cover and 
what it all meant, if Betty’s mother hadn’t come in 
and heard the wonderful story. 

And when she had heard it and been so astonished 
too, that she had to sit down and get her breath, she 
said very loud and clear, “ Let us open the box and see 
what is in it! ” 

‘‘Oh, yes! Oh, yes!” cried Betty and “Woof! 
Woof!” barked Muff. 

So mother untied the cord and lifted the cover and 
there, in lovely wrappings of white tissue-paper lay 
46 


The Fifth Adventure 

darling, dear, sweet, nice, soft, limp, kissable, huggable 
Bettykin ! ! 1 

Oh, well, well, I can’t begin to tell you how glad 
Betty was, nor how she danced around the room with 
the doll in her arms, and how Muff barked and ran 
after them both. And when everybody had said “ Oh,” 
and “ Ah,” and “ Did you ever? ” till she was tired, 
Betty’s mother began to fold up the tissue-paper and 
there in one corner of the box was a little blue bead 
necklace, and it said on it, — dear me, what a surprise, — 
it said on it, “ For Betty T and in another corner was a 
new red ribbon and it said on it, “ For MuffJ^ 

Now, wasn’t that odd, queer, strange, wonderful and 
extraordinary? I think it was. I do indeed! 


47 


CHAPTER SEVEN 


THE SIXTH ADVENTURE 

I WONDER if you remember that the morning 
after the picnic in the beech-tree walk when Betty 
was looking for her lost Bettykin, her mother had taken 
her father into the comer and whispered something to 
him. You do remember that? 

Well, do you remember too, that I said you never 
could guess what it was unless you lived to be as old as 
the man in the moon? 

Of course, you haven’t guessed it then, for there 
hasn’t been time for you to grow that old, and as for 
Betty she was under the table when the whispering was 
going on and hadn’t even tried to guess, so the surprise 
when her father came home was three times as wide, 
four times as long and five times as thick as the surprise 
that the postman brought. 

Father came home in the ‘‘ Hieland Lassie ” late one 
afternoon and he brought so many bundles that he had 
to hire a man with a hand-cart to wheel them to the 
48 


The Sixth Adventure 

house for him. Mother and grandmother hurried to 
meet him and Betty clung to his legs and Muff ran 
roimd and round him barking, until the whole family 
was nearly deafened and had to sweep him into the 
street with a broom to hear itself think. 

And then father had to tell mother and grandmother 
all about the aunt and uncle and cousins in the great 
town; how that Aunt Bell was well and Uncle Jack 
but poorly and Cousin Neil was grown almost a man 
and Cousin Eppie was at work in a shop. It was a toy- 
shop, too, so father said, and the things that were in it 
no man would believe, so fine they were and grand. 

And he took Betty up on his knee and told her about 
the gaily painted wooden horses and the Noah’s Arks 
with all kinds of animals and the tops and the balls and 
the glass marbles and the dolls, dear me! the wonderful 
dolls with kid slippers and silk gowns. Betty heard him 
and opened her blue eyes and nodded her head till the 
yellow curls shook and thought she would like to see 
that toy-shop, oh, very much indeed. 

And then father gave her some sweeties he had 
brought for her, and she and Bettykin were put to bed 
and were so good that they ate only one sweetie apiece 
before they went to sleep. At least, of course, Betty had 
49 


The Adventures of a Doll 

a little more than one sweetie, because Bettykin didn’t 
seem to want hers, and her small mother had to eat it 
up to save it. It was very good of Betty to be so saving, 
wasn’t it, yes, very good indeed! 

While Betty was having her breakfast next morning 
she noticed that there was something in the corner of 
the kitchen, covered up with her mother’s cape, but she 
wasn’t the kind of little girl who peeps into things with- 
out leave, so she didn’t go near it when her mother lifted 
her down from her chair. 

Very soon father came in and he asked Betty if she 
didn’t want to see what Aunt Bell and Cousin Eppie 
had sent her, and he told her to hide her eyes and open 
them when he had coimted three. 

And Betty hid her eyes tight and opened them just 
as soon as father said “ Three! ” and she saw something 
in front of her that made her stand still as a stone, with 
her two fat hands clasped close together on her blue 
pinafore, and her mouth pursed up as if she were going 
to whistle. 

The Something was a little carriage made of straw, 
with wheels, and a wooden rail to push it from behind, 
like a real baby-carriage. 

It had a little seat and a little red cushion on the 
50 


The Sixth Adventure 

seat, and on the cushion there sat, — oh, my stars and 
moons and suns! — there sat, either a fairy queen, so 
beautiful that you couldn’t look at her without winking, 
or else a doll so wonderful that the like of her was never 
made before. 

Betty had never seen any doll but Bettykin in all her 
four years of life, so she hardly knew whether this 
lovely creature was a doll or not. Her head and neck 
were of smooth, shining china ; her black glossy hair was 
of china too, and curled quite like real; her blue eyes 
looked straight at you, one on each side of her nose, and 
she had a sweet little red mouth and pink cheeks. Betty 
crept a bit nearer to look more closely at the Surprise 
and seeing the small fat boy peeping around the door 
she beckoned him in and they went up to the carriage 
together. And then they saw that the doll, (for by this 
time Betty felt sure it must be a doll, because if it had 
been an angel or a fairy it would have flown away be- 
fore,) they saw that the doll had nice little kid arms and 
hands with fingers and that she had two feet with real 
shoes on and a pink dress. When Betty saw this she left 
the doll and the carriage, very much to the surprise of 
her father and mother, — yes, left them right there, — 
and ran back to the settle where she had laid Bettykin. 

51 


The Adventures of a Doll 

And she took Bettykin in her arms and kissed her and 
then she held her close while she ran back to look at the 
surprise. 

Do I know why she did it? Yes, and I am sure you 
will, if you think a minute. 

Grandmother had been there all the time while Betty 
and the small fat boy had been looking at the Surprise, 
and now she said, “ What are you going to call the 
pretty lady-doll, Betty? ” 

‘‘ She is named already,” said father. “ Cousin Eppie 
christened her; there is the paper pinned to her dress; ” 
and he took it off and read the name loud and clear, — 
“ Bonnie Lesley,^' 

“ Bonnie Lesley,” said Betty after him, ‘‘ dear 
‘ Bonnie Lesley,’ ” and she leaned down to pat the doll’s 
head. Bettykin dropped from her arms as she did so 
and fell close by the new doll’s side, with her head 
against hers. 

“They kissed each other; they’ll be friends;” said 
mother smiling, “ though one of them is new and beau- 
tiful and one old and not beautiful at all.” 

“ Bofe boo’ful ” insisted Betty, kneeling down beside 
the carriage on the floor, “ bofe boo’ful dollies 1 ” 

“ But you must be very careful of Bonnie Lesley,” 
52 


The Sixth Adventure 

said father. “ She can’t be dropped out of window and 
into the water and left in the rain and hung on clothes- 
lines and doubled up and tucked into young gentle- 
men’s pockets, like Bettykin.” 

Betty looked up with a troubled face. 

‘‘ Oh, no,” agreed grandmother. “ See her pink silk 
frock and her real shoes and the lace around her neck. 
You must be very careful of her.” 

“ Yes indeed,” said mother, “ very careful,” and the 
small fat boy said nothing, for his finger was in his 
mouth, but he shook his head as if he knew all about it. 

And he did know all about it soon, for whenever they 
were both good and whenever they were both clean, and 
whenever there was no fog, or rain, or mist, but every- 
thing was blue and bright and gay, then they might 
take the carriage out and push Bonnie Lesley up and 
down on the sidewalk. 

Were there many days when both children were good 
and clean, and when the sun shone? Yes, there really 
were a good many and the doll and the carriage were 
so grand and lovely that all the other children along the 
loch-side came running whenever they saw them and 
begged to push Bonnie Lesley once in a while, — only 
just once in a httle while. 


53 


The Adventures of a Doll 
Did Bettykin go to ride, too? No, not in the carriage. 
Didn’t Betty want her to ride with Bonnie Lesley? 
Oh, yes, she wanted her to go, but mother and grand- 
mother both said Bettykin was too shabby and her dress 
too soiled to ride in a grand carriage with a red cushion. 

But Betty wouldn’t leave the dear old shabby doll at 
home, oh, no! for fear she wouldn’t keep well if she 
didn’t have the fresh air, so whenever she pushed Bon- 
nie Lesley in the carriage Bettykin hung, doubled up 
over her arm, in the old way, like a workbag. 


54 


CHAPTER EIGHT 


THE SEVENTH ADVENTURE 

I T was when Betty, Bettykin, the small fat boy and 
Bonnie Lesley were taking the air one day that the 
beautiful young lady drove by in the pony-cart and 
seeing Betty’s mother cleaning the front steps and 
making them all pink like the house, she pulled up Rah 
very quickly and said good-morning. 

And Betty’s mother courtesied and said good-morn- 
ing, too. 

Then the beautiful young lady told Betty’s mother 
that her little niece. Lady Jean, was visiting at the 
Castle, and that she intended to give a party for her the 
very next day, if the weather should be fine, and that 
she wanted every little girl in the village to come at 
three o’clock and bring her doll. 

And Betty’s mother courtesied again and promised 
that Betty should come and very pleased she was, oh, 
very pleased indeed. Betty was pleased, too, but not the 
small fat boy, for he wasn’t invited, being only a boy 
and made of “ snips and snaps and puppy dog’s tails.” 


The Adventures of a Doll 

The next morning early, Betty was looking out of 
the window to see if the sun was shining. And yes, he 
was, — oh, bright, bright, bright, and the birds in the 
beech-tree walk were singing sweet, sweet, sweet, and 
the blue waves on the loch-side were plashing soft, soft, 
soft! 

And after breakfast Betty’s mother washed and 
ironed a new white pinafore for her and said she could 
wear the blue beads the big young man had sent her. 
Then Betty was scrubbed and combed and curled for 
the party, and Muff was scrubbed and combed too. Oh, 
didn’t I tell you he was invited? Yes indeed, he was. 
The beautiful young lady asked him to come par- 
ticularly, and said to tie up his hair on the top of his 
head with a red ribbon so that he could see where he was 
going and not knock over the little girls, or lose their 
dolls. 

And didn’t he lose any dolls? No, he didn’t lose any, 
he, — ^but I mustn’t tell you that part now. 

After dinner it was time to put on the white pinafore 
and the blue beads and to say good-bye to the small fat 
boy next door and to promise to bring him home a cake. 
Then mother took Bonnie Lesley out of the big box in 
the cupboard where she stayed when the children were 
56 


The Seventh Adventure 

not good or the weather wasn’t fine, and she smoothed 
down the pink silk frock, and set her in the straw car- 
riage with the red cushion. 

“ Bettykin, too ! ” cried Betty, running in to pull her 
out from under the settle, “ Bettykin, too! ” 

“ Oh, no! ” said mother, “ not to the Castle! ” 
‘‘Dear me, no!” cried grandmother, “not to little 
Lady Jean’s party! ” 

Betty stood looking from one to the other, holding 
the doll tight to her white pinafore. “ B-b-bettykin 
t-t-oo!” she stammered, her lip beginning to tremble. 

“ There, there, child; don’t cry,” said mother quickly. 
“ Bettykin shall go then, but she really is too dirty and 
too shabby for the ladies at the Castle to see. Let us put 
her here on the floor of the carriage and cover her up 
with the lap-robe. Will that do, Betty? ” 

Yes, that would do, said the little girl, and so said 
Bettykin, who was a sweet kind dollie and didn’t mind 
being told she was old and shabby, for she knew that 
Betty loved her just the same. 

Then Mother and Betty and Bonnie Lesley started 
out for the party with Bettykin under the lap-robe and 
Muff trotted beside them, very clean and very sad. 

His hair was brushed and tied up with a red ribbon 
57 


The Adventures of a Doll 

so that he could see quite well and his eyes shone so that 
every cat on the road saw him coming and scurried out 
of the way before she could be chased. He did look 
exactly like a lady’s mutF, a gray and silky one with a 
dog’s head fastened on, and he thought it was a sad 
world indeed, with far too much soap in it. 

As Betty and her mother went in through the Castle 
gates they heard the pipes in the distance and when they 
reached the velvety green lawns where little Lady Jean 
and the children were playing they saw the piper step- 
ping proudly up and down and blowing and blowing 
away, 

“ The Campbells are coming, oh, ho, oh, ho! 

The Campbells are coming, oh, ho, oh, ho!” 

while his kilt and his sporran swayed to and fro and 
the streamers on his pipes fluttered in the breeze. 

There were so many little girls in blue and pink and 
red and violet running about on the lawns that they 
looked like a great swarm of butterflies and the beau- 
tiful young lady, like a great white butterfly herself, 
with a golden head, came out from among them to 
welcome Betty. 

Then mother said good-bye to her little girl, and 
58 



There JVe?r so Many Little Girls — They Looked Like a Great 

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The Seventh Adventure 

told her to be good and mind the ladies, and held 
up her forefinger and shook it at Muff and went 
away. 

And Betty didn’t cry at all when she was left alone, 
no, not one single bit, but just put one hand in the 
beautiful yoimg lady’s and pushed Bonnie Lesley with 
the other and they went to find Lady Jean, who was a 
nice wee lassie with a sleek brown head. 

By this time the lap-robe had been pushed aside a 
little, so that Bettykin could just get a peep at the 
party out of one of her white silk eyes. That was 
enough for her and she was quite happy and lay very 
still on the floor of the carriage while Bonnie Lesley sat 
up stiff and proud on the seat. 

As soon as Muff saw all the children he forgot how 
sadly clean he was and flew about like a little gray 
whirlwind, frisking and barking and running races and 
begging to have sticks thrown for him, everywhere at 
once and never still a minute. 

And oh, what a bright, sunny afternoon it was and 
how big and gray the Castle looked, and how green the 
lawns were, and how bright the flowers and — my pa- 
tience! how the peacocks screamed over on the stone 
walls! Lady Jean and her little visitors made more noise 
59 


The Adventures of a Doll 

than a whole regiment of soldiers and led by the beau- 
tiful young lady they played almost every game that 
ever was known. 

The dolls meantime sat very properly, all in their 
best clothes, in a ring on the grass where the beautiful 
young lady had placed them, and nobody looked at 
them for as much as half an hour, excepting Muff who 
came galloping up once, his pink tongue hanging out 
of his mouth, paid his respects to one of them, and 
galloped away again. 

Do I know to which doll he paid his respects? Yes, 
I do, and it seems funnier to me every time I think of 
it and I wonder if he really knew what he was doing. 

When a long time had gone by in romping and 
playing, the beautiful young lady called the piper 
to stand near her and she formed the children into a 
line after him. Lady Jean at the head and Betty next 
her. 

“ Now, little ones,” she cried when she had gone to 
the end of the line herself, “ we’ll all march over the 
lawns to the tea-table and when we pass the ring of 
dolls each child must take up her own dollie as she goes 
by, and carry it with her to the feast. Ready, Rory, 
play up! ” 


60 


The Seventh Adventure 

So Rory played up, Te-tum-ty-te-tum-ty-te-tum-te- 
tum-tum! and away marched the line of children, Muff 
galloping after. 

And when they reached the dolls, pink-cheeked, silk- 
frocked, and proper as they sat stiffly on the grass, 
there in the very middle of the ring! red side up, lay 
Bettykin in her shabby old clothes, her white silk eye 
round and sorry and ashamed and frightened, — oh, so 
ashamed and frightened. 

Did she put herself there? Oh, no, indeed! Don’t you 
remember she had no hands to lift up the lap-robe and 
no feet to walk with and besides she knew quite well 
that her clothes were not fit for the party. Who did do 
it? Well, all I can say is that Betty didn’t, for she was 
playing with little Lady Jean till the very moment the 
line was formed. 

When Betty saw poor Bettykin lying in the ring she 
stood stock still, she was so troubled and astonished, and 
didn’t even try to pick up Bonnie Lesley, and that 
stopped all the children behind her, and seeing that they 
stopped, the piper stopped too. 

The beautiful young lady came running up to see 
what had happened, and when she saw Betty’s eyes of 
surprise, and the doll in the grass, she exclaimed, in a 
61 


The Adventures of a Doll 

very kind way, — ‘‘If here isn’t Bettykin after all! 
Why, where did she come from? See what a nice, soft 
doll, children, and how you can squeeze and hug her,” 
and she lifted her up in her arms. 

“ Let me see,” cried little Lady Jean, and she took 
Bettykin and squeezed her tight, while Betty looked on, 
all pleased and happy now. 

“ You may carry her to the feast, Jeanie,” said the 
beautiful young lady, — “ if Betty is willing. We don’t 
know how she came here, but we are glad to see her, all 
the same, are we not, children ? ” 

“ Glad to see her! ” shouted all the little girls and 
they marched on again, Bettykin at the very head of all 
the line in Lady Jean’s arms. 

And when they came to the feast there were tiny 
chairs set for the dolls on the grass around a tiny low 
table with tiny bits of dishes on it. And on every plate 
there was a strawberry, and a cake the size of a thimble, 
and in every cup there was a wee, wee sup of milk, and 
there were plenty of chairs and one over for Bettykin, 
just as if she had been expected. 

The little girls all sat around their own big table and 
had everything and more to eat, and everything and 
more to drink, and each a box of sweeties to take home. 

62 


The Seventh Adventure 

Muff didn’t sit at the table, but he came close by and 
waited a few minutes and seeing that nobody gave him 
anything, he rushed away and rubbed his head on the 
grass till he had rubbed off his red ribbon. 

Then he came frisking back and when the beautiful 
young lady saw him and said, “ Naughty little Muff! ” 
he answered quite sharp and loud, “Woof! Woof! a 
dog can’t be dressed up all the time.” 

By and by it began to grow just a little dark under 
the table, and the beautiful young lady said she would 
take Betty home herself and tell her mother that Betty- 
kin was the very nicest and best behaved of all the dolls 
that were at the party, for she had heard by this time 
that Betty’s mother didn’t want Bettykin to come, and 
would be very much ashamed when she knew how 
strangely and suddenly she had appeared. 

So the beautiful young lady set her right beside 
Bonnie Lesley on the seat of the new carriage, — yes, 
right on the seat, and side by side Betty pushed them 
over the lawns, down the gravel walks and through the 
great gates of the Castle! 

And when Betty’s mother saw them and the beauti- 
ful young lady told her how glad she was that Betty- 
kin had come to the party, mother courtesied and said, 
63 


The Adventures of a Doll 

“ Indeed she wasn’t fit, my lady, and thank you very 
kindly, my lady, for bringing my Betty home.” 

So this was the end of Bettykin’s seventh adventure 
and it is the last one there is room for in the story. 

Was it the last that ever happened? Oh no, there 
never will be an end to the adventures, I think, so long 
as Betty, Muff and Bettykin keep on living. 

All these things took place some time ago, but if you 
go now on any fine day to that little village in the West 
Highlands of Scotland, I believe you will see Betty in 
her blue pinafore pushing the straw carriage along the 
loch-side. And in the carriage Bonnie Lesley and 
shabby old Bettykin will be sitting side by side, very 
good friends, and very happy, yes, very happy indeed. 

And will Muff be there too? Oh, yes. Muff will be 
there, galloping along beside them, head first or tail 
first, I don’t know which, and neither does anybody else 
in the village. 


64 








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